Spanish history is diverse and exciting, but not entirely easy to take in. One of the problems is to separate history from storytelling – what are facts and what is myth? And which of the two is the most important? The answer is far from obvious. The Battle of Covadonga in the early 8th century has played a central role in Spanish identity to this day. What can perhaps best be described as a skirmish turns into a huge battle which in turn becomes the very basis for the founding of Spain.
After Muslim forces led by the Berber army commander Tarik crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from North Africa in 711 AD, it did not take long before they had conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula. In the north, after a few years, the Moors stood on the threshold of the Frankish kingdom. South of the Pyrenees, there were only scattered pockets of resistance left.
Asturias, located to the northwest on the Iberian Peninsula, is by nature a place where it is possible to withstand an invading force. The region is protected by the Cantabrian Mountains which are a continuation of the Pyrenees. Not surprisingly, it is among the core areas of the Basques.
These pockets of local resistance to the Moors in the first half of the eighth century were neither strategically nor economically among the most important for the Muslim rulers of the Iberian Peninsula. This gave the Visigoths, among them members of the nobility, the country’s former rulers, an opportunity to seek refuge here.
Among these leaders was the Visigothic knight Don Pelayo (also called Pelagius). His legacy in Spanish history cannot be said to be in any reasonable relation to the historical facts, but more on that later.
Don Pelayo is said to have taken part in one or more battles against the Moors elsewhere on the Iberian Peninsula. Admittedly on the losing side. But he has probably been a stubborn and combative lord, at least he did not give up and was elected king by a very modest kingdom in Asturias in 718 AD.
Religion, country or money?
In Spanish storytelling, the most widespread version is that the conflict with the Moors was of a purely religious nature: Christian Visigoths and descendants of celt-iberians in conflict with Muslims. It is not unreasonable to assume that the conflicts had territorial aspects: a reconquest of the lost lands of the Visigoths on the one hand, the desire of Muslim rulers to win more land on the other. Money has probably also played a role.
For with Muslim rulers came the collection of taxes. The taxes imposed on non-Muslim residents were significantly higher than for Muslims. On top of that, they doubled during this period. This causes a fuss whether you live in the 8th century or in modern times.
Siege, skirmish or battle?
Covadonga is located in a valley in Asturias. Before the Corona Pandemic, the cave and church there were a popular destination for tourists in Spain, and will be again following the pandemic. In school books and many other contexts, Spaniards have heard that it was here in this modest village surrounded by the Cantabrian Mountains that Spain was created.
In this area, it is said, was the first battle between Christian and Muslim forces in which the Christians emerged victorious. We do not have a precise time for the event, but we are probably talking about the beginning of the 720s AD, maybe 722 AD.
There are several accounts of what happened in and around Covadonga, from both sides of the conflict. One problem is that none of them are contemporary, they are usually written several hundred years after the events took place. Another problem is that they differ dramatically in their presentation of the course of events.
If we consider Muslim chroniclers, they describe the battle in rather sober forms. According to them, the resistance at Covadonga consisted of a few dozen local men and women who were hiding out in a cave. Not much to bother with really. Perhaps they “underestimate” the significance of the clashes, the same cannot be said of Spanish representations of the same course of events.
On the Spanish side, there is instead talk about a gigantic battle that included divine intervention. A Christian chronicle tells of a Moorish attacking army of no less than 187,000 men. Miraculously, a few hundred Christian defenders based in the cave led by Don Pelayo managed to exterminate the enemy.
The locals in the area had a tradition of worshiping Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the cave of Covadonga. That was put to good use in the Spanish chronicles. The first 124,000 Muslim soldiers are said to have lost their lives when the stones from their catapults turned in the air and killed their own men. An earthquake conveniently hit the attackers, while the Christians living in the cave survived. The last 63,000 Moors are said to have fled or died after falling from the mountain and into a river where they drowned. Another account would have it that the Moorish army was destroyed when the Virgin Mary herself rolled a boulder down the mountainside from the cave.
There are great dimensions to the Spanish storytelling. Modern historians tend lean more in the direction of the Moorish version. The battle was possibly a clash between a modest number of Moorish troops and Christian defenders who had entrenched themselves in one or more local caves. Other historians believe that it was a siege that ended with the Moors moving on because the barren area was hardly worth bothering with.
Don Pelayo is admittedly recognized as a historical figure, a Visiothic leader who sought refuge in the Cantabrian Mountains with his men around the year 722 AD. But today’s historians do not believe that there was a major battle between Christians and Moors there.
From skirmish to cornerstone in the story of Spain
A good story can still have an intrinsic value – far beyond what the dry facts would suggest. The inscription above the entrance to the cave in Covadonga leaves no doubt about the Spanish understanding of the events. It says: “Here in the name of the Mother of God, from the cliffs above the mountain tops, Spain arose.”
The great Spanish story sees the battle of Covadonga as the beginning of the so-called Reconquista, the Christian re-conquest of lands on the Iberian Peninsula that the Muslims had conquered. It took almost 800 years and if we look at historical facts, it is far from a straightforward or a systematic Christian struggle to take back land, as it is often portrayed.
In the story of the Reconquista, the year represents 722 AD, a historic turning point – the year that luck turns for Christian Spain. And it is here based in the sacred cave of Covadonga in the rather remote Asturias that it all takes place. From then on, according to this account, Christian resistance grew steadily, until the last Muslim rulers were expelled from mainland Spain in 1492.
Whatever version of the story one believes, it is a fact that Asturias remained out of Muslim control, the area was never incorporated into al-Andalus. Together with Asturias’ geographical location, it gave the Christian kingdom here the opportunity to organize and grow so that it eventually came to include Galicia and Cantabria. And over the centuries, the empire developed into a center of power for later Christian rulers.
Why did the process take just well over seven hundred years? One could assume that a united Christian population would be able to expel Muslims in a somewhat shorter time. The answer is that history was far more complex – on the Iberian Peninsula there were many and changing alliances in these centuries. And they demonstrably often crossed religious lines, changing alliances to serve both territorial and purely personal ambitions.
The story of the Reconquista, which is said to have begun with Don Pelayo in the Covadonga Cave and ended in 1492, is a good and not least simple story with clear heroes and villains. But it probably tells us more about the Spanish self-understanding than about historical facts.
Harry B., Find Your Spain!
Like this article? Please share it with your friends and family.
